Tales from the Edge

Reviews (Dr. Who, Movies)

When the Star Wars: The Last Jedi teaser dropped, I watched it three times and then woke Nenya up and made her watch it. Nenya: That... doesn't really show anything new. Me: *wanders around cheerfully humming Binary Sunset theme for next two days.* Apparently I'm easy.

Most of you know now I have a mixed relationship with Moffat's run, which has followed my mixed relationship with RTD's run. I watched the last two Christmas specials, liked the River one, was kinda meh on the super hero one, hadn't watched the last series with Clara because the previous series with Clara pissed me off so badly. I love Capaldi generally, but found that Twelve wasn't really my Doctor (though he was more my Doctor than Matt Smith, admittedly). I liked Clara, but her plots often made me want to set my hair on fire, so I bailed for a bit.

Doctor Who 10x01: "The Pilot." OMG! I LOVED THIS EPISODE! I love Bill. I love her relationship with what seems to be a kinder, lighter Twelve. I like Nardol and how he seems to be the one proping up the Doctor, rather than the companion doing all the emotional h/c stuff. I loved the references to River and Susan (HI! SUSAN! HI!) Bill reminded me so much of Rose, though a more confident version. Like that she got to be so openly queer and it wasn't even commented on, and the story with Heather was wonderful Doctor Who creepy. Does anyone else think that Susan will be in this series? I liked that the arc mystery was What's In the Vault, not What's Up With the Companion. I loved the humour, and the compassion, and the adventure. If the rest of the series is like this, I will be a very happy panda.

Apparently Kris Marshall is the odds on favourite for the new Doctor. Please no.

I watched Cape Fear, or rather I watched the bits of Cape Fear that weren't showing women being terrorised. It was a short movie.

Nenya and I watched The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, which we both really liked. There have been a million movies about white suburban malaise in the 1950s, and I guess this was one of the first. I really did like the focus on mental health, struggling to set boundries, and how much each little individual choice made up your character. It felt like it was about real people, not the pop version of what the '50s were like. I'm surprised they got all the gory and unglamorous depictions of WWII past the censors.

Nenya and I watched The Purple Plain, which was enjoyable on another level. It's a British WWII movie about a Canadian Mosquito pilot in Burma who is Sad Because of His Dead Wife, and Learns To Love Again. The plot was not all that, but it was reasonable in its depiction of the Burmese, and featured perspiration soaked and increasingly grubby Gregory Peck the Canadian, so I was well pleased. I was charmed that they'd obviously decided to hire him, knew he couldn't do a British accent, and therefore literally labeled him "CANADA" and called it done. (I have a weakness for RCAF Mosquito pilots as that's how my maternal grandfather spent the war, though not in Burma.)

I feel conflicted about the pictures on the desk. I don't want to see River, but I do want something with Susan.speaking of pictures, I love how they underplayed the box of pictures of Bill's mom. that was perfect.

I've been pleased with how relatively low-key the River mourning is. She was a big enough character that you can't just drop her and go lalala who's River? But they also didn't do the whole sulking about Rose for three seasons thing (or at least aren't showing strong signs of it). I don't think it's a prelude to bringing her back so much as winding down her story.

Susan, however, could be a thing.

Bill's mom's pictures was fabulous. How incredibly sweet of the Doctor, especially when she was having a shitty Christmas.